Muddy puddles and happy faces!
This week the rain has been with us in the forest, creating some amazing muddy puddles to jump in and the perfect sloppy mud to use in our imaginative play. The sunshine made brief appearances which was a lovely break, and the added windy moments made for fun with the parachute.
Using the parachute has been one of the main things we have done in the bunny group this week. The children have loved spending time running underneath it, looking at the bright colours as they ran. They have also enjoyed taking turns holding it and throwing it into the air, sometimes being caught by the wind and sending it up so high that some of our little arms couldn’t reach anymore. This parachute has helped us talk about colours and naming the different colours on there, as well as with counting and taking it in turns to count how many seconds we will hold it up for. The children have loved having this on our meadow and it brings a lovely bit of brightness to some of our cloudier days in the forest!
There have been some lovely adventure walks this week in the forest too. The children have enjoyed exploring the other parts of our forest that we don’t always get to see and have had fun trying out new paths and directions. One of our groups went to a stream nearby where they used our small nets to fish out different things from the water. We found different leaves and sticks, and the children pretended that some of them were fish.
Our other group went to explore other parts of the forest where trees had fallen down and we could test out our climbing expertise. They took turns to climb and balance on branches and help their friends to do so as well. It is amazing to see how well the children work together to achieve something they want, and to see their friends succeed.
Our children have also been enjoying searching for creatures that call the forest their home. We have found slugs, worms, spiders and different birds that have been flying around. The children have taken their time to observe these creatures and then talk about them with their friends. We have books in the forest about different creatures and the children have used these to find out more information about what they have found. It’s important to teach our children about the creatures that live in the forest so that they know to respect it and to look after it.
Our bunny group have shown their interest in music this week and have been using the things around them to make different sounds. Our mud kitchen pots turned into drums, our sticks into guitars and the different cups and beakers we have have been used as various instrument. It has been lovely to watch the children work out how to make different sounds and what is best to use to make the sound even louder. Some of our children even took it further and added lyrics to the beats, making it more fun and exciting for everyone to join in with!
The weather may have been changing throughout the week, and the chill starting to creep in, but our children always find the most exciting things to do and are always challenging themselves to explore new areas.
We hope you all have wonderful weekends!
“Encourage your child to have muddy, grassy or sandy feet by the end of each day, that’s the childhood they deserve.”
~Penny Whitehouse
Little Forest Folk
Wimbledon